The Tianshu squadron made a large circle in the Western Pacific, and finally circled to the southern tip of the Philippines, entered the Celebes Sea, and then passed south between Borneo and Sulawesi, entering the Java Sea. After that
, Tianshu squadron
The team entered the port of Surabaya to replenish supplies. Surabaya was at the eastern end of Java Island, which was ceded to the Ming Dynasty during the Ming-Dutch War. The local Chinese cheered and were so excited that they all came to the port to see and warmly welcome the Ming army sailors.
Obviously, the commander of the Tianshu Squadron decided to preserve the victory of this voyage and these three precious aircraft carriers, and decided to completely avoid all risks. He did not enter the East China Sea directly from Taiwan, but traveled thousands of miles to take a detour to the South China Sea.
Then from the South China Sea to the north, and then
Passing through the inner side of the Taiwan Strait, all the way is the sea area completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty. This can at least avoid passing through the southern end of the Ryukyu Islands and avoid the risk of encountering the Mutsu squadron. The commander of the Tianshu plans to escape unscathed and does not want to go back.
It's an unnecessary risk.
However, there is another danger when returning to the East China Sea Fleet base, which is the four battleships deployed by the Japanese army in the East China Sea. They are an extremely powerful force that have always frightened Ming army warships from going out to sea for a decisive battle. Now in the Nanyang Fleet base, not only are there
The original cruisers of the Nanyang Fleet were still anchored by the Yongle squadron, which had gone to Europe to blockade the Soviet Union and turned back halfway. After the Yongle squadron returned to Nanyang, it received orders to station on the spot and not continue northward.
On the one hand, the Maritime General Staff is worried that the strength of the South is too weak. The Nanyang Fleet wants to protect the Strait of Malacca and the Daming Sea Communication Line, but there is not even a battleship. If the Japanese army sends a large fleet south to attack, the consequences will be disastrous. On the other hand,
, when the war first started, Ming
The army and navy pursue the policy of "preserve strength and avoid decisive battles". They are neither willing to let the four battleships in the East China Sea Fleet port go out for a decisive battle, nor are they willing to allow the Yongle squadron to have only one battleship and one battlecruiser.
On their return voyage, they may encounter four Japanese battleships in the East China Sea.
It's different now. The top brass of the Ming army saw a series of victories for their aircraft carriers, built up strong confidence, and saw the tremendous power of sea and air combat. Now they often send land-based aircraft to attack Japanese battleships in the East China Sea. And the fourth
The Japanese battleships also continued to retreat eastward, until they could be protected by local aircraft. Now, although they are still in the East China Sea, they can no longer form a "blockade" situation against the East China Sea Fleet.
Therefore, the General Staff of the PLA Navy ordered the Yongle Squadron and the Tianshu Squadron to be merged into one large task force, with the Tianshu as the flagship, and return to the East China Sea Fleet. However, the battlecruiser Zhurong was left behind to serve as the Nanyang Fleet.
Increase strength.
Now, the "enhanced version" of the Tianshu Squadron has three aircraft carriers, one battleship, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 21 destroyers. It is large in scale and extremely powerful. Even with the Japanese Mutsu Squadron
In a head-on collision, the Ming Army General Staff is also confident that at least it will never suffer a loss.
…
The many days of negotiations with the Ming Dynasty have made Stalin restless. Many things in the country have also made him sleepless and uneasy. In the political world, there were many elders from Lenin's era - including elders with similar qualifications to himself, and many who were not.
Get rid of. In the military circles, the situation made Stalin even more uneasy. Because of the war against the Ming Dynasty, the purge originally planned to be carried out in the army has never been dared to start. Moreover, in the previous stage, there were more victories than defeats. The generals in the army, especially
is a lot
Generals who are not directly affiliated with them, such as Tukhachevsky and his like, have also taken advantage of their victory to establish widespread prestige in the army and are supported by the majority of officers and soldiers. However, the situation has become worse recently with more defeats and fewer wins. Stalin's
The political and engineering system continued to reflect secretly, and a mood began to permeate the army. Generals tended to blame the failure on reasons such as "politics suppressing the military" and "politics taking command." Some even directly said that it was because of "the political commissar's blind command."
.
On the contrary, Stalin was a little envious of the Ming Army. No matter whether the Ming Army lost more in the early stage or won more in the later stage, the generals of the Ming Army or the senior officials of Nanjing never had to worry about "the instability of the army". He was in control of the power.
He has a life-or-death plan for everyone in the Soviet Union, but instead
It's too cold to be in high places. Not only are you always on guard against "other forces" opposing you, but you also have to deal with everything yourself. The people below don't dare to make their own decisions. Even in the current negotiations with the Ming Dynasty, no one is like that.
Make your own suggestions and judge everything yourself.
Stalin even had the feeling, to put it exaggeratedly, that he had only one brain in the entire Soviet Union.
He flipped through the reports sent from the "Ili Kingdom" and gradually fell into deep thought.
Originally, he wanted to support a local prince to be the king, but pan-Turkism, Islamism, and Muslim resistance in northern Xinjiang became increasingly popular. Stalin originally planned to support a local prince as the king, just to consider easing the local Muslim resistance.
But now, a trend more dangerous than Muslim resistance has suddenly emerged - that is Pan-Turkism.
Once a local prince is promoted as the king of the Ili Kingdom, wouldn't it encourage this "Pan-Turkic" national sentiment? Then the Soviet Union's series of allies in Central Asia are all in this "Pan-Turkic" circle
.Once a chain reaction occurs, the consequences will be disastrous.
Stalin thought for a long time and came up with a bold idea.
——It’s time to make a choice. It’s time to play a card that has been held in your hand for such a long time.
Support the exiled emperor Guangwu and let him be the king of the Ili Kingdom. Use a foreigner to suppress the locals.
…
As Xiang Xiaoqiang expected, his new insights were questioned by many people in Office Zero. Among them were even people from the submarine force.
The focus of their opposition is mainly the new concept of "wolf pack tactics". The reason why they insist that "it is difficult for submarines to operate in groups" is that this tactic will inevitably break radio silence during the operation, thereby exposing the submarine's position and losing the submarine.
The advantage of concealment. Obviously, Xiang Xiaoqiang's idea is: once a submarine takes the lead in discovering the enemy fleet, it must use radio waves to call other nearby submarines to come. Without breaking radio silence, the submarines cannot cooperate in operations.
Xiang Xiaoqiang had been mentally prepared for a long time. He expected that the opponents would definitely use "breaking radio silence" as an argument. He put forward his own idea - that is, Dönitz's idea - whether radio communication is used or not, radio communication is
It is just a means, not an end. Radio communication serves tactics, not tactics. If the use of radio can enable our army to quickly concentrate a large number of submarines and achieve greater victory against the enemy, then "radio silence will be broken."
This shortcoming must be tolerated for the time being.
However, in the face of facts, any language is pale. Xiang Xiaoqiang planned to refer to previous experiences and speak with facts. He ordered his subordinates to prepare for an experiment of wolf pack tactics. Moreover, this was not an exercise. It was an actual combat in the Western Pacific.
We must boldly use radio communications to gather the "wolf pack".